Vehicle: 2011 Jeep Patriot North Edition
Price as tested: CDN$26245
Performance: After Jeep introduced the all-new impressive Grand Cherokee, its time for them to revise their Patriot/Compass twin. Does the new Patriot live up to the promise left by the Grand Cherokee? We will have the answer after this test drive.
The Patriot’s powertrains have one of two choices. The base 2.0 liter or the uplevel 2.4 liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder with dual variable valve timing as our North tester. All of these are joint venture powertrain between then DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi. With 172hp and 166 lb/ft of torque, it has more than enough grunt to move 3392 lb of curb weight. The general refinement and smoothness are up to the standard in its class. That until you have to listen to the noisy racket motivated by the CVT. Once you have to merge on to the freeway or accelerate from the traffic light, you have to listen to those noise from the CVT right from naughty to 100 km/h. Once you get passed the noisy rev range, its quite refined on highway speed.
Handling: With our North tester’s optional Freedom-2, the Patriot is able to do some light off-roading. Something like gravel roads wouldn’t left any problem with the Patriot as this is basically a car-based crossover. If you want to do a full off-road, better to get a Liberty instead. However, Patriot’s on-road manners are quite a delightful surprise. The ride comfort has to be rated as one of the most comfortably riding in the compact crossover segment. Its able to absorb all the patholes and roughess with ease. The steering provides crisp response although the feel and feedback are vague, however, not until the level of numbness. ESP has done a good enough job on eliminating over and understeer when pushed the Patriot. There are some body rolls when pushed. Overall, its more of a comfort-oriented instead of a sports-oriented crossover.
Brakes: With 4 wheel discs and standard ABS, Patriot’s brake pedal produces better than average result. Both the stopping distance and pedal feel are decent, even after a couple of hard stops, it doesn’t exhibit any fades to the initial pedal.
Interior: Patriot’s use of interior plastic used to be nasty, which already considered as an understatement. The revised Patriot’s revised interior has taken a huge step forward when it comes to those plastic trim pieces. The HVAC knobs on the center console finally have a high-quality tactical feedback. There are finally some acceptable plastic molding on the dashboard even if they are still hard, at least they aren’t going to cut anyone’s dry skin like a sharp knife anymore.
Given Patriot’s compact dimension, the rear head and legrooom are generally decent for 2 passengers while adequate for 3.
At the back of the Patriot, it got a nice rear washer/wiper to clear mess up in rainy days. When the rear seats fold down, it has surprising amount of cargo space for luggage. However, the rear glass doesn’t open indepedently from the tailgate.
Conclusion: The better use of materials have finally put the Patriot up to the standard set by the class. However, the overall execution doesn’t seem to agree with that. If the new Grand Cherokee is any indication, the next Patriot would look rather promising.
Competitions:
Nissan Rogue
Honda CR-V
Toyota RAV4
Hyundai Tucson
Kia Sportage
OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2011 Jeep Patriot
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Performance: 2/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 2/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 2.5/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 3/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 3/5
Value-for-money: 2/5
Overall rating: 2/5